Editor’s Note: With the new Standard Format in 2016 for Hearthstone, we highly recommend going for cards in the Classic set and Whispers of the Old Gods (Standard Format). Here are budget guides, also from Sheng, to get you started!

Greetings, I’m Sheng, a Legend rank constructed and 7.5 win-average arena player. I run HearthstoneCoaching.com where our coaches have helped students around the world reach many of these same achievements.

If you’re new to Hearthstone, or just have a limited collection of cards—I feel your pain. It is often difficult to find cheap but viable decks to play on the Hearthstone ladder. Given this dilemma, I’ve set out to help those of you with a limited collection by creating budget decks for each class.

[toc]Requirements[/toc]

Reach Level 10 to unlock all of the Basic cards for this class.

Complete the Naxxramas, Blackrock Mountain, and League of Explorers expansions.

Have approximately ~1200 ± 200 Dust for crafting.

Note: Don’t forget to check out our New Player section – featuring Crafting/Disenchanting and Free to Play guides!

[toc]Guide Breakdown[/toc]

Now that you know the criterion for building these decks, here’s what each guide includes, for every class.

Introduction

Requirements

Deck Playstyle

Card Choice Breakdown

Mulligan Guide

Gameplay Video

Upgrades

Conclusion

I’ve spent significantly more time on these guides this time around, and recorded and edited myself playing each deck, as I’ve received feedback that this is helpful.

I’ve also brought back the upgrades section in case people want to see what an unhindered version of the deck looks like that may be capable of reaching Legend rank. This time it includes direct substitutions, so you don’t have to wonder about what cards to keep or take out. It’s very clear.

Aggro Druid utilizes the mana acceleration of Druid cards like [card]darnassus-aspirant[/card] and [card]innervate[/card] to quickly gain tempo over opponents.

This deck is very similar to Midrange Druid, but focuses less on value and more on killing our opponent as quickly as we can. Thus the inclusion of cards like [card]leper-gnome[/card] and charge minions not typically found in Midrange Druid variations.

Face Hunter’s goal is to beat your opponent down as quickly as possible. The general theme of the deck is to get onto the board extremely quickly with minions like [card]leper-gnome[/card] and [card]worgen-infiltrator[/card], and then finish opponents off with direct damage spells and charge minions.

Tempo Mage’s goal is to control the board early on with extremely cost-efficient minions that synergize remarkably well with Mage’s cheap class spells. Minions like [card]mana-wyrm[/card], [card]sorcerers-apprentice[/card] and [card]flamewaker[/card] all accelerate or benefit directly from the casting of spells.

With this early game lead, Budget Tempo Mage seeks to end games early through the burst provided by [card]fireball[/card] and [card]argent-commander[/card].

Aggro Paladin seeks to claim the board early and never put the foot off the gas. The goal of the deck is to play small cost-efficient minions that benefit from each other and to overwhelm your opponent before they have answers.

In the early game, you want to establish a board quickly. Unlike Face Hunter, the goal isn’t to do damage as quickly as possible, but rather to control and dominate the board throughout the course of the game.

Try to empty your hand before playing [card]divine-favor[/card] to maximize the amount of cards you’ll be able to draw.

Utilize [card]equality[/card] and [card]muster-for-battle[/card] or [card]ironbeak-owl[/card] to deal or bypass your opponent’s bigger threats and taunts.

Control Priest is a deck that utilizes Priest’s ability to heal as an offensive and defensive weapon. The two key minions in our deck are [card]northshire-cleric[/card], which serves as a card draw engine and [card]auchenai-soulpriest[/card] which allows us to use [card]circle-of-healing[/card], [card]zombie-chow[/card], and our hero power offensively.

In the early game, control the board with [card]zombie-chow[/card] and combo spells like [card]power-word-shield[/card] with [card]wild-pyromancer[/card] to clear the board.

In the mid game, utilize combos with [card]northshire-cleric[/card] and [card]auchenai-soulpriest[/card] to clear your opponent’s board to draw multiple cards to gain card advantage.

Raptor Rogue is a deck focused around the Deathrattle mechanic. Most of the cards in this deck are designed to synergize with a new card from League of Explorers called [card]unearthed-raptor[/card], which has the ability to clone Deathrattles from friendly minions.

Aggro Shaman’s goal is to beat your opponent down as quickly as possible. The general theme of the deck is to get onto the board extremely quickly with minions like [card]leper-gnome[/card] and [card]tunnel-trogg[/card], and then finish opponents off with direct damage spells, charge minions, and weapons.

Zoo Warlock is an aggressive deck that relies on the synergies between its many small minions. In addition, cards like [card]imp-losion[/card] simultaneously help build board for you while eliminating opponent’s threats.

In the early game you want to get onto the board early with cards like [card]flame-imp[/card] and [card]voidwalker[/card].

In the mid game, after establishing an early board, try to setup a turn where you can trigger [card]knife-juggler[/card] with [card]imp-losion[/card] to eliminate your opponent’s minions while building up your own board.

By late game, you can bring out [card]doomguard[/card] or a large [card]frostwolf-warlord[/card] to kill your opponent.

Patron Warrior is one of the most synergistic decks in the history of Hearthstone. Each card in this deck works towards our strategy of surviving until we can bring out [card]grim-patron[/card] or a [card]raging-worgen[/card] with [card]charge[/card] to kill our opponent in a single giant turn.

[toc]Don’t have dust?[/toc]

Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered. Check out my previous Starter deck series that don’t require any dust to build.

Deck construction was one of the hardest things for me to learn when I first picked up this game, so I hope this will help you newer players bridge that gap faster than I did. As always, I’d love to answer your questions on this thread or on the guides themselves. Enjoy!

I also run RankOneCoaching.com, where our top coaches will develop a personal plan for you to achieve your dreams in other games. Personal lessons are an in-depth experience and most students improve significantly after just one full session!